College Democrats ‘Fully Support’ Workers, Call Dining Committee Statements ‘Irresponsible’
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College Democrats released a statement Tuesday reinforcing the organization's support of recent unionization efforts by some on-campus Sodexo employees. A strike last week in demonstration of the push closed the Johnson Center's Taco Bell, pictured above, due to staffing. (Peter Flint)
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The George Mason University College Democrats released a statement earlier today, April 20, saying the organization will "fully support" a group of on-campus Sodexo employees in their unionization efforts. Outlined concerns expressed in the statement focus less on claims of intimidation and harassment directed at Mason Dining management and more on issues of wages, health insurance and “justice in the workplace,” according to the organization’s co-president.
The statement, which was posted on the organization’s website, follows and addresses a letter released last week from the Student Government’s Administrative Subcommittee on Dining Services that condemned the “false claims and accusations” leveled against on-campus food contractor Sodexo and Mason Dining management by the Service Employees International Union. Signed by the dining committee’s four Student Government senators, the letter outlined “frivolous claims” made by members of the SEIU at last week’s on-campus protest and march, as well as on the union’s website.
College Democrats call the committee’s statements “irresponsible.”
“It is unfortunate that these few members [of the dining committee] have chosen to make claims about the working conditions of our food service workers without even speaking with them,” the statement reads. “We have spoken with the workers. They want nothing more than a decent wage, affordable health insurance and justice in the workplace.”
Frank Anderson, co-president of the College Democrats, drafted the statement. Co-President Pakiza Nasher and Vice President Kenton Ngo signed off on the contents before bringing it to vote at the organization’s weekly meeting Monday night.
Anderson, in a phone interview earlier today, said he sat down at a table in the Johnson Center with about six to ten workers before last week’s protest. The conditions the workers he met with discussed dealt largely with low wages and health insurance and, to the best of Anderson’s knowledge, did not deal with claims of intimidation or harassment at the hands of Sodexo management, as previous information from the SEIU’s nationwide project Clean Up Sodexo otherwise suggests.
“I don’t know of anyone directly intimidating them,” Anderson said.
The College Democrats’ statement says workers’ complaints instead seemingly deal with the upper management of Sodexo’s corporation. Anderson reiterated this reason in relation to his organization’s participation in events on campus.
“[Our] protests are directed at Sodexo [and at its] upper-level management, not at [Resident District Manager] Denise [Ammaccapane],” Anderson said. ”Other than not taking the petition, she seems like a nice person. Nothing against her.”
The statement nonetheless does discuss “unfair working conditions.” Before discussing the “competitiveness” of the $8.50 an hour wage at which all Mason Sodexo employees start over Virginia’s minimum wage of $7.25, it describes two cases in which employees were injured on the job and treated improperly. One case involves a woman who received a burn on her arm and was allegedly denied being taken to a hospital. The other involves an elderly worker who was injured in a fall while cleaning an oven. The statement says the payment for her back surgery was taken out of her vacation pay.
At the time of publication, however, no unfair labor practices appear to have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board against the Sodexo account at Mason.
Anderson, who began planning for College Democrats to become involved in the issue after receiving a call from an SEIU organizer the night before Wednesday’s demonstration, says that even if there had been no injuries, the Sodexo workers still have good reason to organize. According to Anderson, unions have the power to negotiate the better working conditions and treatment that employees aren’t receiving from Sodexo.
“It looked like there was a perception [in the dining committee’s letter] that these workers were out of line,” Anderson said. “It looked like [people were] condemning workers for trying to join a union.”
Sodexo’s website says that the corporation “recognizes and respects the rights of our employees to unionize, or not to unionize, as they choose.”
“This notion of the union as an evil organization — it’s just unacceptable to me,” Anderson said.
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The full text of the statement is posted below.
GMU Democrats Stand Up for Foodservice Workers
Pakiza Nasher and Frank Anderson, Co-Presidents
Kenton Ngo, Vice President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SGA MEMBERS CONDEMN WORKERS WITHOUT MEETING WITH THEM
The GMU College Democrats are disappointed with the irresponsible statements made by the Student Government Association’s dining committee against our food service workers. It is unfortunate that these few members have chosen to make claims about the working conditions of our food service workers without even speaking with them.
We have spoken with the workers. They want nothing more than a decent wage, affordable health insurance and justice in the workplace. They love George Mason University, its faculty and its students. Their complaint is with the upper management of Sodexo Corporation and its unfair working conditions. These conditions are not imaginary. One employee suffered a severe burn on her arm. She asked her manager if she could go to the hospital but was forced to continue working. Another elderly worker injured in a fall while cleaning an oven. Payment for her back surgery was taken out of her vacation pay. These conditions are unacceptable, even before considering the low wages.
The dining committee states that wages of $8.50 per hour are “competitive” because they are higher than the Virginia minimum wage. That is not saying much. $8.50 cannot be considered anywhere near a living wage. (A living wage is the bare minimum required to afford housing, food and utilities. In Fairfax County, the living wage has been calculated at about $44,000 per year.) We spoke to one worker who had been with Sodexo for ten years but only received a $1 raise during that period. The real wages that our foodservice workers take home is actually far lower because of the excessive cost of health insurance that Sodexo offers its employees. The insurance cost is one of the reasons that the workers told us they were protesting.
Although the dining committee used the seals of the SGA and the University on their letterhead, we don’t think they speak for the entire campus. Instead of supporting the workers’ right to unionize, the committee accused them of throwing around “frivolous claims” without asking the workers what they thought of their conditions. We understand that the middle managers at Sodexo’s office on campus are unauthorized to make decisions about many of the conditions imposed on workers by the Corporation. However, they could have at least accepted the petitions from the workers asking for better conditions. We believe that the Sodexo team on campus treats the students on the dining committee with respect and is attentive to their claims, but the Company behaves very differently with workers.
The decision to walk off the job is not one that workers take lightly, and the large number of workers wouldn’t have done it unless there were real issues with Sodexo’s unfair treatment. Workers’ claims are real and can be substantiated. Low pay and high health care costs are an unnecessary reality that these workers face. Despite what the management says, Sodexo workers around the country have been met with intimidation, surveillance, interrogations and even termination when they voiced their desire to improve their lives and improve their jobs. Workers went on strike to send a message to Sodexo: workers want to raise their families out of poverty, and intimidation and harassment won’t be tolerated.
The College Democrats fully support the Sodexo workers as they fight for their right to form a union and seek better working conditions.
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